Recognizing Damaged Heritage Brings Real Racial Healing

You never heard of the Elaine Race Massacre, right? In Arkansas, in the times after World War One, black people wanted to form a union. That did not sit well with the racist culture. In 1919, a massacre of over 100 random black people involved local and state attackers as well as help from the racist President Wilson’s troops. Our guest author J. Chester Johnson learned late in life that his beloved grandfather who had raised him took part in the attacks. In 2014, Johnson befriended a woman whose ancestors had been victims. His new book is Damaged Heritage: The Elaine Race Massacre and A Story of Reconciliation, and he offers ways to achieve real reconciliation, free from our damaged Heritage.